The CEO of the company that purchased VPNSecure in 2023 and claimed to not know that the VPN service provider had previously sold lifetime subscriptions has some regrets.
Earlier this week, Ars Technica reported on VPNSecure canceling thousands of lifetime subscriptions, starting in March. In an email to customers, VPNSecure said that it couldn't afford to maintain the subscriptions and that the current owners, InfiniteQuant Ltd, weren't told about the subscriptions when they bought VPNSecure. The sudden deactivation of accounts resulted in customer backlash online, including, as of this writing, 24 pages of one-star reviews on Trustpilot.
ββ¦ maybe, honestly, we should have just walked away from this 'opportunity,ββ Romain Brabant, the CEO of InfiniteQuant Ltd, told Ars Technica when asked if he would have handled things differently in hindsight.
The new owners of VPN provider VPNSecure have drawn ire after canceling lifetime subscriptions. The owners told customers that they didnβt know about the lifetime subscriptions when they bought VPNSecure, and they cannot honor the purchases.
In March, complaints started appearing online about lifetime subscriptions to VPNSecure no longer working.
The first public response Ars Technica found came on April 28, when lifetime subscription holders reported receiving an email from the VPN provider saying:
Much of Surespan's work requires field technicians working on-site to install the company's roof and floor hatches.
Surespan
The UK's Surespan builds roof hatch and floor access covers for infrastructure projects.
It used a new security model and AR headsets to enable real-time communication on remote projects.
This article is part of "Build IT: Connectivity," a series about tech powering better business.
A stadium is designed to capture attention, yet one of its most fascinating elements is often ignored: the roof.
Surespan, a UK manufacturer, has worked on some of the world's biggest construction projects, from SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles to the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
It makes roof hatch and floor access covers β a small but integral part of major infrastructure projects.
The installation process isn't always easy. On-the-ground technicians rely on the knowledge of Surespan's in-house engineers, who are often thousands of miles away at the company's headquarters. Security is also a concern as the company handles sensitive information, especially when working on government designs.
Previously relying on phone calls and emails, Surespan wanted to find a faster way for its employees to collaborate as it scaled its business globally. It turned to two tech solutions: a new security model to access installation files and augmented reality headsets to enable real-time communication on remote projects.
While one engineer at Surespan told Business Insider that the construction industry could be traditional and resistant to new technology, the methods had saved the company tens of thousands of dollars.
At Kielder Observatory in England, Surespan's double-leaf roof hatches open to reveal the sky.
Surespan
Building a secure connection
Last year, Surespan set up an operational base in Argentina as part of its plan to expand its business in South America. But it wasn't a smooth setup: It experienced what Thomas Davies, the company's commercial director, described as a "nightmare situation" when the team in Argentina couldn't access critical design files for three days.
It had been using a virtual private network to manage digital connections.
"VPNs function on an implicit trust model," Spencer Summons, the founder of the cybersecurity firm Opliciti, said. "This approach can be likened to giving a user the keys to your office building, trusting they won't enter restricted areas."
As Surespan expanded, its in-house VPN became less reliable and required support from contractors to set up in new locations. The VPN also routed traffic through congested centralized points, which led to slower connections. When the new base opened in Argentina, the company struggled to keep up with the increased setup demands, which is why the team on the ground had to wait three additional days to access essential digital resources.
Robert Fletcher, Surespan's IT lead, wanted to find a faster way for users to connect to resources regardless of their physical location. "You have to give everyone, whether they are in the office, on a remote construction site, or traveling, dependable, secure access to company resources while juggling different time zones and differing local IT infrastructure quality," Fletcher told BI.
With the help of Zscaler, a cloud security company based in San Jose, California, the company switched to zero-trust network access, a security model that requires continuous authentication and provides a more direct connection.
Summons told BI that ZTNAs work on a "never trust, always verify" basis. He said that businesses are increasingly seeking secure remote access solutions to protect their resources as they scale. When they're working across countries, he added, security becomes even more pressing, as certain regions are more vulnerable to cybercrime.
While VPNs give users full network access after initial authentication, ZTNAs allow access only to the resources that they need and continuously authenticate. The tech, Summons said, is "akin to having numerous security guards checking IDs at each entry point, ensuring access to certain rooms and areas is granted only to those who are authorized and verified."
Fletcher said Surespan's new system had provided employees access to crucial resources, like design software and project files. He added that since the company switched, issues such as connection drops and slow speeds had largely disappeared because the ZTNAs connect users directly to the applications they need, rather than routing them through a busy central data center.
Bringing virtual assistance to the field
Much of Surespan's work requires on-the-ground expertise, with field technicians working on-site to install the company's roof and floor hatches. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the company trialed AR headsets to connect workers on the installation sites with Surespan's engineers.
"With travel restrictions hitting hard, we needed a way for our experienced engineers, often based here in the UK, to remotely support our teams in installing complex access solutions on sites across the globe," Mikolaj Wisniewski, a senior engineer at Surespan, told BI.
The field technicians use voice-controlled headsets made by RealWear, an AR company based in Vancouver, Washington. The headsets allow engineers at the Surespan offices to see the installation site in real time. Users can also share documents, annotate views live, and provide step-by-step instructions for the technician in troubleshooting, inspection, or complex installation procedures.
The method wasn't popular at first.
"As with any new technology, there was some resistance at first due to the learning curve and skepticism about wearing the physical headset," Wisniewski said. "Construction can be quite traditional, and some team members were more comfortable with the old ways of doing things β physically being on-site or just sticking to phone calls and photos."
Despite the initial reluctance, Wisniewski said, the team was won over when they actually used the headset. Today, the tool is deployed whenever remote expertise is needed quickly.
"Our site teams and our central engineering and support functions are now much more connected," Wisniewski added. "We receive instant visual context rather than having to deal with lengthy email chains or possibly unclear photos, providing immediate visual context."
Wisniewski said the AR headsets had saved the company more than $54,000 in flights and accommodation, which would otherwise have been required for engineers to travel to installation sites. The technology has also resulted in fewer project delays, he said.
"It breaks down geographical barriers and enables much richer, faster collaboration," Wisniewski added. "The entire organization feels more responsive and connected when an engineer in the UK can provide direct guidance to someone on a site thousands of miles away."
Last month, Microsoft announced that it was increasing the prices for consumer Microsoft 365 plans for the first time since introducing them as Office 365 plans more than a decade ago. Microsoft is using new Copilot-branded generative AI features to justify the price increases, which amount to an extra $3 per month or $30 per year for both individual and family plans.
But Microsoft giveth (and chargeth more) and Microsoft taketh away; according to a support page, the company is also removing the "privacy protection" VPN feature from Microsoft 365's Microsoft Defender app for Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android. Other Defender features, including identity theft protection and anti-malware protection, will continue to be available. Privacy protection will stop functioning on February 28.
Microsoft didn't say exactly why it was removing the feature, but the company implied that not enough people were using the service.
A new AI orchestration startup from the founders of Lithuanian unicorn Nord Security is setting out to help enterprises put their AI projects into production, with an initial focus on bringing greater visibility, security, and adaptability to large language models (LLMs). Nexos.ai, as the startup is called, is the handiwork of Tomas Okmanas (pictured above) [β¦]
Pornhub has withdrawn from Florida and other states over age-verification laws.
Nikolas Kokovlis/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Pornhub exited Florida at the start of the year because of a new age-verification law.
The HB3 law requires users to provide ID to access adult sites. Noncompliant platforms face fines.
After the law was enacted, interest in VPNs in Florida skyrocketed.
Searches for VPNs in Florida skyrocketed after Pornhub exited the state over a new law requiring age verification for adult websites.
VpnMentor said it "detected a surge of 1,150% in VPN demand" in Florida in the first few hours after the law took effect at the start of the year.
The company described the surge as "staggering."
Google searches for "VPN" in Florida also experienced a notable rise.
While Google Trends doesn't give exact search figures, it showed that interest in the term "VPN" in Florida reached a score of 100 on New Year's Day. A value of 100 represents peak popularity for a term, a sharp increase from a score of 58 the day before.
Interest remained high as of Monday, with the term scoring 82.
VPNs allow users to hide their location and IP address by routing their internet connection through a remote VPN server, allowing them to bypass regional blocks on websites.
HB3 requires users to verify their ages with a third party using a driver's license before they can view pornographic material. If platforms hosting explicit material fail to comply, they can be fined up to $50,000 for each violation.
Oklahoma, Idaho, and North Carolina have also introduced similar age-verification laws.
Last year, Pornhub exited Texas in protest over a legally contentious effort to introduce age-verification requirements.
Proton, a VPN service, said on Friday that it had received a "massive surge" in sign-ups for its services in the US.
"Typically, we see such spikes from countries with unstable governments facing internet shutdowns, meaning this is an anomaly," it said.
In a follow-up X post, Proton described it as a "false alarm" and said the surge was the result of "porn."
Pornhub, the world's most visited adult website and one of the most visited websites in the world, has already blocked access to its content in 17 states, according to The Independent.
In a statement provided to Business Insider, Aylo, Pornhub's parent company, said it is generally in favor of implementing age verification but described the age-verification methods outlined in such laws as "ineffective, haphazard, and dangerous."
"Any regulations that require hundreds of thousands of adult sites to collect significant amounts of highly sensitive personal information is jeopardizing user safety," it continued.
Those attempting to access Pornhub in Florida without a VPN are now shown a video presented by the adult-entertainment star Cherie DeVille, who says "giving your ID card every time you want to visit an adult platform" is ineffective and puts children and users' privacy at risk.
Beyond grappling with age-verification laws, Aylo is also dealing with a wave of legal challenges.
More than half a dozen VPN apps, including Cloudflareβs widely used 1.1.1.1, have been pulled from Indiaβs Apple App Store and Google Play Store following intervention from government authorities, TechCrunch has learned.Β The Indian Ministry of Home Affairs issued removal orders for the apps, according to a document reviewed by TechCrunch and a disclosure made [β¦]
It's getting harder to access popular adult sites in the US South.
On Wednesday, Pornhub's owner, Aylo, kicked off the new year by blocking two more states that implemented age verification laws requiring ID to access porn, Florida and South Carolina.Β According to 404 Media, these states are now among 16 states where Aylo sites, including Pornhub, RedTube, and YouPorn, cannot be accessed. Tennessee also risked being blocked, but a court preliminarily blocked its age-verification law from taking effect.
The other blocked states are Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and Virginia. Mapping it out, 404 Media noted that the Aylo blackout spans nearly the entire US South, with Georgia's age verification law set to take effect in July and likely to trigger another block that would almost complete the blackout.
In the hit virtual reality game Gorilla Tag, you swing your arms to pull your primate character aroundβclambering through virtual worlds, climbing up trees and, above all, trying to avoid an infectious mob of other gamers. If youβre caught, you join the horde. However, some kids playing the game claim to have found a way to cheat and easily βtagβ opponents.
Over the past year, teenagers have produced video tutorials showing how to side-load a virtual private network (VPN) onto Metaβs virtual reality headsets and use the location-changing technology to get ahead in the game. Using a VPN, according to the tutorials, introduces a delay that makes it easier to sneak up and tag other players.
While the workaround is likely to be an annoying but relatively harmless bit of in-game cheating, thereβs a catch. The free VPN app that the video tutorials point to, Big Mama VPN, is also selling access to its usersβ home internet connectionsβwith buyers essentially piggybacking on the VR headsetβs IP address to hide their own online activity.
